An appeals court ruled Wednesday that 'The Pitt' and 'ER' share enough in common to allow a lawsuit from Michael Crichton's widow to proceed.

In a unanimous opinion, a three-judge panel denied an appeal from Warner Bros. Television, which has argued that the two shows are unrelated.

“There are clear and numerous similarities between ‘The Pitt’ and ‘ER,” the court ruled, citing the emergency room setting, the fast pace, the medical jargon, the graphic depictions of injuries, and a young, incompetent doctor fresh from medical school. “We find the details here suffice for a prima facie case.”

  • yeahiknow3English
    115·
    4 days ago

    Dumbest of lawsuits. Apparently we aren’t allowed to make good medical tv shows because someone did it once decades ago.

      • captainlezbianEnglish
        3·
        4 days ago

        That video was so good, and I love the follow up after the author threatened Ellis

    • velma@sh.itjust.worksOPMEnglish
      52·
      4 days ago

      It is specifically that Crichton put in his agreement with Warner Bros that there would be “frozen rights” so no spinoffs or reboots would be created without him since ER was based on his own life. Warner Bros thought they would be cheeky and change The Pitt from a spinoff to something of it’s own without changing it enough from ER.

      Crichton was a creator of “ER,” which was based on a 1974 script he wrote about his experiences as a medical student. His contract with Warner Bros. Television included a “frozen rights” provision blocking the studio from making any spinoffs or reboots without his approval.

      Sherri Crichton, his widow, filed the suit in August 2024, months before “The Pitt” debuted, alleging that Wells and Wyle had originally wanted to reboot “ER” and only changed course after failing to secure her permission.

      Warner Bros. has argued that “The Pitt” is a completely different show, and filed a motion to throw out the suit under California’s anti-SLAPP statute, which is meant to deter frivolous lawsuits that stymie free expression. Judge Wendy Chang denied the motion last year, finding that Sherri Crichton had offered enough evidence to proceed.

      The appellate ruling allows the suit to move forward at the trial court. The question of whether “The Pitt” is in fact a derivative work of “ER” could ultimately be up to a jury to decide unless the parties reach a settlement before it gets to that point.

      “I am deeply gratified by the Court of Appeal decision and look forward to discovery and to our case, which affects writers, creators, and their families and estates, being presented to a jury,” Sherri Crichton said in a statement.

      • yeahiknow3English
        63·
        4 days ago

        How is that “cheeky”? If the agreement is upheld for The Pitt, then WB is effectively barred from making an emergency room medical show ever. Which is ridiculous.

            • velma@sh.itjust.worksOPMEnglish
              1·
              2 days ago

              They started with wanting to make a spin-off of ER. When Crichton said no, that’s when they came up with “The Pitt”.

              I don’t know whether the shows are close enough to violate the contract WB has with Crichton, but it’s enough for this panel of judges to allow the suit to move forward to determine that.

              Sherri Crichton, his widow, filed the suit in August 2024, months before “The Pitt” debuted, alleging that Wells and Wyle had originally wanted to reboot “ER” and only changed course after failing to secure her permission.

          • yeahiknow3English
            73·
            4 days ago

            The criteria they gave are vague aspects of all emergency rooms, as any experienced medical doctor can attest.

            Here’s the description for the top 10 litRPG novels available right now:

            young man is integrated into another world, after death or apocalypse, and gets new powers with which to fight monsters and, after growing in strength, some overarching enemy.

            If this description is copyrighted, the genre dies.

            • fibojoly@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
              1·
              2 days ago

              young man is integrated into another world, after death or apocalypse, and gets new powers with which to fight monsters and, after growing in strength, some overarching enemy.

              If this description is copyrighted, the genre dies.

              You say that like that would be a bad thing…

              • yeahiknow3English
                1·
                2 days ago

                That genre is already dead in some respects, because its main publishers (Royal Guard, Atheon, Podium) all use AI for editing and have no policy against AI use by authors — and worst of all, the readers are semiliterate gamers who think it’s impossible to be sure if AI was used, meaning that subreddits and other forums dedicated to promoting these works have explicit rules against mentioning AI.

                I’m not kidding.

            • jacksilverEnglish
              62·
              4 days ago

              What youre missing is the context of how the show was created. They reached out to Crichton’s estate to make a reboot, balked at the price, then immediately made The Pitt.

              With that context and the similarities it seems the judges thought there is enough evidence they were trying to make an ER fascimile that a court case is worth it. In the court case they may find the shows aren’t similar enough, but given the events leading up to the show, it seems like they may have pulled a lot from ER.

              • yeahiknow3English
                45·
                18 hours ago

                And? Did Crichton write the Pitt? No, because he’s dead. Did they use his characters? No, because his greedy estate (whose very existence makes no sense) wanted too much money.

                These legal shenanigans are all part of the commodification of art by capitalist parasites, which is why, for instance, Tolkien’s work still hasn’t entered the public domain, despite being almost a century old.

            • velma@sh.itjust.worksOPMEnglish
              32·
              4 days ago

              Well, a panel of 3 judges decided that Chrichton’s widow had enough of an argument that The Pitt is a derivative work of ER. We’ll see how the trial goes.

              • yeahiknow3English
                34·
                3 days ago

                The same farcical judicial system that banned abortion and gave the president immunity from crimes. I don’t even have to assume they were bribed, just dumb af.

                • velma@sh.itjust.worksOPMEnglish
                  41·
                  4 days ago

                  The Supreme Court is a little different than these judges here presiding over a copywrite case lol